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Good morning

Speaking about my daughter, Haley, something unfortunate but funny happened last night.  She called home last night about 7:40pm and said the truck had been in an accident.  It's a big truck (Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab) but I wondered how it could have happened if she wasn't off until 8pm.  It turns out someone else had a really bad evening.  A woman was driving through town when her car died.  She and her friend decided to push it into the McDonald's parking lot (Haley's workplace).  The person at the wheel didn't do such a great job because they pushed it right into the truck.  It's minor damage and the woman did come into McD's to see who the truck belonged to.  Haley called home to make sure she got all of the info from the driver as far as insurance and she took pics on her phone of both cars and the other car's license plate.  What an evening.

Mary, Hodaya is right about the mortality rate issue.  Keep in mind, you have to sign when you have anything done, especially under anasthesia, even getting your wisdom teeth pulled, that there is the risk of death.  Heck, you could step out of the house and get hit by a car.  Don't worry at all about the risk of death.  You have a higher chance of being struck by lightning. 

Ali, I hope things work out and you are able to have the surgery.  Make sure you feel comfortable with the surgeon.  I wish I had done this so long ago.  If I had this done at your age, I would have been so much happier for the past twenty years.  I can't even imagine how much better my life would have been.  I always had to plan the days to take laxatives based on my work schedule or any other events so I could be at home for the day.  When I was working a lot of overtime it was so difficult because I'd have to make sure it was statistically a slow day so I knew I could get to the restroom when I needed.  I hated going in a public restroom because of the sound and smell.  Silly me - I'd try to go as soon as another toilet would flush or i'd have to flush and go.  Hodaya can vouch for the quality of life issue.  It will all work out. 

this morning I went to the bathroom and it was sort of normal.  I don't know what the consistency is supposed to be like but it was not just total liquid.  I guess things are looking up! 

Oh yeah, Mary - the obstruction is more of a narrowing at the new junction point, where the connected the small intestine to the remaining couple of inches of my sigmoid.  If this morning is any example, I think things are working well.  This was the first time I went that seemed somewhat normal.  I don't think it will ever be solid again but maybe hodaya can answer that one. 

I told my husband last night about all of you and explained that even though I don't "know" any of you, it's nice to be able to talk about things that we don't have in normal conversations with friends and coworkers.  Only those with these problems actually get it.  Now he "gets it."  How often do you actually use the word "bowel" in a typical conversation. 

i have thanked my husband so many times for being there at least five times a week, no matter how long he stayed.  I know an hour from home is not that far, but when you consider that's two hours of driving at $4/gallon for gas, it's not exactly easy to get visitors.  I also admitted that I cried on the few days I had no visitors.  It got pretty lonely, especially when my day started at about 5am. 

Blah, blah, blah - I'm sure I've lost you all by now with this long post, but I had to catch up after not posting for so long. 

Have a great day!

nanci

Still awake - tried to go back to sleep but I've been up since 245am.  Ron gets up at 3am so I went ahead and got up for a cup of coffee with him.  I was never able to go back to sleep. 

hodaya, by the junction point, I meant the anastomosis but I can never remember how to spell it.  I just meant where the reconnected the small intestines to the remaining portion of the sigmoid.  They did not do balloon dilation, nor was it ever mentioned.  Listen to this, the last day I saw my doctor he told us (Ron and me) that the insurance company had called and was really pressuring him to get me out.  Then he said "Do you feel like going home tomorrow?"  Of course I said yes, but I can't help but wonder if everything is really working correctly.  I guess I'll just play it by ear and see what happens.  He did say if I had any questions or I felt like something wasn't right, not to hesitate to call.  He said he just had to make sure everything was well documented for the insurance company.  As long as everything is functioning properly I think it's easier to recover at home.  I still do have to remind myself not to do too much.  I can do the laundry but I need my kids to carry the basket and it's actually good because I'm teaching my 10 yr old daughter (Elisabeth) how to do laundry.  It will be a good learning experience for her and she will be learning to do so many more things that they are used to me doing for them. We'll see how long it lasts. 

Mary, you asked about how often I saw the doctor and also about the pain meds. 

My surgeon was in about 3-4 times a week and when he wasn't, there were two other surgeons who came in to check on me.  There was also the surgical resident team and also two nurse practitioners who came in twice daily; once in the morning (early -  6am and about 530pm).  I also had a couple of D.O.s (osteopathic doctors) come in to use manipulative medicine.  It's optional but I took advantage of the services.  I'm not sure exactly what they do but since your nerves are all in your spine they make sure everything is aligned (not the same as a chiropractor) and also taught me a couple of stomach massage techniques.  I was also having problems with my lower back where I had the lumbar puncture and bloodpatch.  I had so much pain and some bruising and swelling in the area.  I alternated ice and heat for about 8-9 days and it made a difference but it contained the fluid build-up area and reduced the pain.  The heat wasn't just a heating pad.  There was a water pump attached to this pad and the hot water flowed through it.  Pretty neat!  since I was cold while icing my back I put the heat on my tummy and it felt so good. 

As far as the pain meds, I had the PCA (pump) with the drugs for about the first ten days (I think - can't quite remember) then switched to the Oxycodone pills then the last several days one of the surgeons took me off that and switched to alternating tylenol and ibuprofen.  I am still taking the reglan to aid in peristalsis.  I am only taking that three times a day for two weeks then I should be through with that.  Sometimes I'd like something stronger than the two choices but then I just remind myself to go lie down. 

I was not given antibiotics on the day of surgery.  that day the surgeon said "I wish all of my patients were as healthy as you," which I thought was a little ironic.  If I was so healthy he wouldn't be removing my colon.  I knew what he meant but it sounded funny. 

Ali - I really hope you can come up with a solution soon.  I know I mentioned before that I wish I had done this twenty years ago instead of spending more than half my life dealing with it.  During pregnancies was the worst because it leads to constipation anyway and since you aren't supposed to take stimulant laxatives while pregnant I wasn't sure what to do.  I ended up taking them anyway because there wasn't really an alternative.  The natural senna type products didn't really work unless I took 13-14 tablets and I didn't really think that was good for the babies either. 

Anything from kyle yet?